Surgeons have used laparoscopic surgery to perform a variety of procedures. By manipulating laparoscopes and video telescopes, surgeons gain a visualization of the abdominal cavity while minimizing tissue and muscle injury that normally accompanies conventional invasive procedures. Compared to conventional surgery, laparoscopy reduces patient trauma, decreases patient recovery time, and yields significant cost savings by reducing post-operative care.
The proper hardware and instrumentation are essential to the performance of laparoscopic procedures. To create a sufficient area for the introduction of a laparoscope and other instruments, the abdominal wall is first raised from the organs enclosed in the abdominal cavity. Separation is conventionally attained by pressurizing the abdominal cavity with an insufflation gas. Typically one insufflation gas, such as carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, helium or argon, is used. The presence of artificial gas in the peritoneal cavity to achieve exposure of the cavity during laparoscopy is referred to as pneumoperitoneum.
Studies have shown that different gasses have differing effects on post-surgical healing, pain, and tumor formation. For example, a problem that may occur when using one of the above-named gases to create pneumoperitoneum is hypoxia. Hypoxia is a condition that occurs in the tissues due to a lack of oxygen and may lead to the growth of tumor sites around the surgical area, post-operative adhesions, and cellular decay. If however, oxygen is used to create pneumoperitoneum, there may be problems with embolisms occurring due to air bubbles forming at the surgical site. Moreover, oxygen is a substance that that supports combustion and should be used in lower levels to avoid a flammable environment and yet be used in a large enough quantity to avoid hypoxia.
Normally, the use of two or more insufflation gases will optimize the post-surgical healing process. One approach to achieve this benefit is to use two insufflators so that two insufflation gases, one perhaps being oxygen, may be used. It may, however, be cumbersome to have two insufflators located at the surgical area. Moreover, this method is expensive.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a device that overcomes the disadvantages and limitations described above.